Photophysical and nonlinear optical (NLO) behaviours of low symmetry zinc phthalocyanine (1) linked to Fe3O4/Ag core–shell (represented as Fe/Ag) or Fe3O4–Ag hybrid (represented as FeAg) nanoparticles were investigated in DMSO. Triplet quantum yields and NLO parameters of phthalocyanine improved due to the combined effects of magnetic–metallic nanoparticles. A direct relationship between the increased triplet excited state absorptions by already excited molecules and reverse saturable absorption (RSA) was established as the predominant mechanism responsible for nonlinearity of the samples. Our findings show that, at the same approximate concentrations and conditions, 1-FeAg enhanced the OL potentials of 1 more than 1-Fe/Ag.